Lake Sidetracks. OUTINGS.

Milwaukee Museum Takes Visitors Into A Rain Forest

September 12, 1993|By Don Andries, Special to the Tribune.

You may have had your fill of rain this summer, but there is a rain forest nearby that is worth the humidity, especially if exploring the wilds of Chicago museum parking lots and city traffic has sapped your desire for adventure.

The Milwaukee Public Museum has created its own rain forest in a permanent exhibit hall, calling it "Rain Forest: Exploring Life on Earth." Designed to focus on the importance of rain to all life, the exhibit portrays the ecological intricacies and wonders of nature patterned after a real rain forest in Costa Rica.

The exhibit opened in November 1988 and was five years in the making. It was the first replica rain forest exhibit to open in North America.

Clearly the flagship attraction at the museum, the rain forest occupies a combined total of 12,000 square feet on two levels. Forty percent of museum visitors pick this as their favorite exhibit.

"The Milwaukee Public Museum is known for its dioramas," said Jennifer Diliberti, public relations coordinator of the museum. "With this particular rain forest, you're actually in a Costa Rican rain forest. The centerpiece is the waterfall."

Interactive biology is perhaps the best description of the experience gained by visiting the museum. Entire families can learn to quickly appreciate what all living organisms encounter in daily living-feeding, reproducing, maturing-by walking through the exhibit.

Upon entering the Milwaukee Museum Rain Forest exhibit, visitors are enveloped in an exotic theater of life. A vivid audio background with the chatter of monkeys, parrots and other wildlife sets the stage. Eye-catching transparent cubes are filled with scores of colorful butterflies and beetles, toucans, macaws, tree frogs, jaguars and an incredible variety of tropical plants.

"You see a lot of people just looking up with open mouths, because they've never seen anything like that," Diliberti said.

The working waterfall is patterned after one in Costa Rica. The backside of the waterfall is a large learning center where visitors can watch specially designed video programs about tropical biology. More than 30 interpretive display cases demonstrate the complex interdependency between different organisms.

These and five large video screen theaters present the concepts of modern biology in a way that makes this exhibit one of the nation's innovative teaching tools.

Highlights of the rain forest exhibit include a tropical riverbank open diorama with a 17-foot anaconda snake, an Oropendula bird colony of 15 nests collected in Costa Rica, a "Food Chain" tree (the interior of a strangler fig tree) and a museum curator's office showing a scientist at work.

Though it is the largest permanent exhibit, the rain forest is not the Milwaukee Museum's only attraction.

A new permanent exhibit opening Saturday pays homage to the region's Native American populations with "A Tribute to Survival," which looks at America's first settlers not just as a story from the past but also as a vibrant, contemporary people.

The "Wizard Wing" is a children's hands-on permanent exhibit offering interactive learning about natural history and physical science. Dinosaur fans can thrill to the thunderous roar of a life-size Tyrannosaurus rex. Nostalgia lovers will appreciate strolling the turn-of-the-century "Streets of Old Milwaukee" and a European Village exhibit of ethnic homes, or lingering over a Japanese tea ceremony.

"I think what's unique about our museum is that it's big, but you can do it in less than a day. You can travel the world. I think that's our niche," Diliberti said.

Three museum shops include imported collectibles and handcrafted items, plus children's items and old-fashioned candies and gifts. Gulliver's Restaurant offers luncheon service, and quick snacks are always available at vending machines. Wheelchairs are available at no charge, and strollers rent for $1.

The museum is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily (call 414-278-2700). Admission is $4.50 for adults, and $2.50 for children aged 4-12. Infants are free.

Groups of 20 or more receive a 10 percent discount. Guides are available by appointment.

To get to the museum from Lake County, take Interstate Highway 94 north to Milwaukee. Take Exit 1R right (exit sign for Civic Center-Kilbourn Avenue). Turn left on 6th Street, left on State and left on 7th Street. Go north on 7th; the museum will be on the left, facing Wells Street at 800 W. Wells.